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theoldwolfDay Three
Took more or less a lazy day, stopping to catch up on email and things and not really getting on the road until 10:30. Drove through St. Louis, snapping a new picture of the arch from the freeway, and then heading across Missouri.
I saw a sign for an Irish/Scots/Welsh gift shop on the freeway, so I stopped in St. Charles, MO to check it out – am I glad I did. St. Charles is the original capital of Missouri, and the historic main street has been preserved in much the same way Williamsburg was. They lack the period-replica artisans, but the buildings are beautifully restored and full of charming shops and restaurants. The street is paved with cobblestones…
Stopped at an Arby's for dinner, and had one of their new roast beef gyro sandwiches. It was yummy – better than Crown Burgers in Salt Lake, as the meat was lot less greasy. I took a survey online and got a code for a free sandwich – yum. Someone ought to invent a greek barbecue mouthwash, just so they could call it GyroScope...
Bought a couple of small gifts in the Irish shoppe, and then headed East again, stopping in the evening at Larry Caplan's home in Indiana. His wife answered the door and told me he was at a meeting, so I left my card and prepared to depart, when Larry pulled up behind me. We spent a good half hour visiting, sharing the time with his wife and his two beautiful golden retrievers – one looked just like Ceilidh and acted just like her, too – wanted nothing more than to be scratched all evening.
It was nice to finally meet his wife, and he was pleased that I had taken the time to stop by. Well! I was only 5 miles from his house on the freeway…
Crossing into Kentucky, I took a couple of pictures of typical countryside as I happened to spot things that looked picture-squee...
It was both dark and late when I got to Louisville, and I tried finding a Starbucks there where I could connect to the net, but had no luck – it's just like Salt Lake – they roll up the sidewalks at 6 PM. On the gripping hand, I got a beautiful shot of the moon rising over the Capitol building - not spectacular quality, but enough so that I can remember how pretty it was...
Drove down the road to a Pilot rest stop and tried again there, but their network was so slow I could never get logged on. I hope I didn't get charged for nothing… used my phone to answer a couple of emails, got caught up on this journal – it's now 2AM Eastern time, and I'm tired. I'm about 4 hours from Kathy's farm, so I should be there by noon, depending on what time I wake up in the morning.
Day Four
So I thought I'd get a good night's sleep even going to bed late. After the third freight train went past, six inches in front of my bumper, I decided I hadn't found a good place to park for the night. Sheesh. So I moved to a brighter spot, and was able to get about 5 hours's worth. less than I wanted, but I felt OK.
In the morning, I headed for Gap Mills. It rained a little during the night, but I had a partly cloudy day, and did get a chance to see a little bit of fall color right around Beckley, WV – most of the state is still green, but this one spot was absolutely blazing with colors.
Went over Jones Mountain to Magpie House - it was interesting, as I had never been in the Greenbrier Forest in the fall. Things look different of an Autumn in West Virginia, the leaves have turned yellow and the light slants through at a new angle - it was hauntingly beautiful, and Fall is my favorite season anyway.
I stopped at the little gift shop and bought Kathy some fudge to use when the hassles got too bad to stand ("In case of emergency, break glass and eat chocolate") finally arriving at about 3:30 - it seemed that every inch of freeway in West Virginia was under construction, which slowed me down considerable. I saw that the kennel was empty, so I assumed the farmlady was out walking the dogs. Inspected the basement, which received an "A" - you'll have to refer to my entries from this summer about the cleanout to grok that - and then headed for the back hills where the dogs get walked. Just as I hopped over the gate to the outer pasture, a tornadofull of dogs came bounding toward me, followed by the farmlady, whose intial thought was "who the hqiz is jumping over my gate?". The dogs knew me first, of course, and greeted me enthusiastically. Honey was jumping almost to waist level with excitement...
Kathy fed me some of her Hawai'ian casserole she made with the taro root I had sent her, which was a bonus – it was delicious. She also gave me a jar of strawberry jam, which I foolishly forgot to collect before I drove off. Yarg. We chatted for about an hour, and then her Mom came over – which made further conversation more or less impossible. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I wanted to get down the road toward Richmond so I'd get there at a decent hour tomorrow morning. It was nice to see her again, at any rate. On the quarantined farm.
Found a truck stop at Greenville, got some dinner and – at last – a wireless connection that works – sort of. Got caught up with emails and posting placeholders here, because I wanted a certain someone to be surprised at my presence in Richmond over the weekend. And, as it turned out, she was very surprised - and it didn't look anything like I thought it was going to. But it's all good, especially in the context of the Richmond experience that I came for.
Entered Virginia shortly after leaving the farm, and had to disconnect my radar detector, which is illegal in this state.
Stopped for the night about an hour West of Richmond, and slept until about 4:30. Completed the drive to Richmond, and checked into my hotel at about 6:00. Unpacked, had a lovely shower, went out for a hearty breakfast at the Waffle House, and then came back and took a two-hour nap before heading over to the Wyndham Hotel, where my dear friend Brian Miller of Klemmer and Associates was conducting a three-day Personal Mastery seminar.
It's always intriguing to watch people move their lives forward in these classes. I'll be busy enough until Sunday night that I'll have to report on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday after the seminar is over.
I'm grateful for the good weather, the safety, and the company of good friends.
Took more or less a lazy day, stopping to catch up on email and things and not really getting on the road until 10:30. Drove through St. Louis, snapping a new picture of the arch from the freeway, and then heading across Missouri.
I saw a sign for an Irish/Scots/Welsh gift shop on the freeway, so I stopped in St. Charles, MO to check it out – am I glad I did. St. Charles is the original capital of Missouri, and the historic main street has been preserved in much the same way Williamsburg was. They lack the period-replica artisans, but the buildings are beautifully restored and full of charming shops and restaurants. The street is paved with cobblestones…
Stopped at an Arby's for dinner, and had one of their new roast beef gyro sandwiches. It was yummy – better than Crown Burgers in Salt Lake, as the meat was lot less greasy. I took a survey online and got a code for a free sandwich – yum. Someone ought to invent a greek barbecue mouthwash, just so they could call it GyroScope...
Bought a couple of small gifts in the Irish shoppe, and then headed East again, stopping in the evening at Larry Caplan's home in Indiana. His wife answered the door and told me he was at a meeting, so I left my card and prepared to depart, when Larry pulled up behind me. We spent a good half hour visiting, sharing the time with his wife and his two beautiful golden retrievers – one looked just like Ceilidh and acted just like her, too – wanted nothing more than to be scratched all evening.
It was nice to finally meet his wife, and he was pleased that I had taken the time to stop by. Well! I was only 5 miles from his house on the freeway…
Crossing into Kentucky, I took a couple of pictures of typical countryside as I happened to spot things that looked picture-squee...
It was both dark and late when I got to Louisville, and I tried finding a Starbucks there where I could connect to the net, but had no luck – it's just like Salt Lake – they roll up the sidewalks at 6 PM. On the gripping hand, I got a beautiful shot of the moon rising over the Capitol building - not spectacular quality, but enough so that I can remember how pretty it was...
Drove down the road to a Pilot rest stop and tried again there, but their network was so slow I could never get logged on. I hope I didn't get charged for nothing… used my phone to answer a couple of emails, got caught up on this journal – it's now 2AM Eastern time, and I'm tired. I'm about 4 hours from Kathy's farm, so I should be there by noon, depending on what time I wake up in the morning.
Day Four
So I thought I'd get a good night's sleep even going to bed late. After the third freight train went past, six inches in front of my bumper, I decided I hadn't found a good place to park for the night. Sheesh. So I moved to a brighter spot, and was able to get about 5 hours's worth. less than I wanted, but I felt OK.
In the morning, I headed for Gap Mills. It rained a little during the night, but I had a partly cloudy day, and did get a chance to see a little bit of fall color right around Beckley, WV – most of the state is still green, but this one spot was absolutely blazing with colors.
Went over Jones Mountain to Magpie House - it was interesting, as I had never been in the Greenbrier Forest in the fall. Things look different of an Autumn in West Virginia, the leaves have turned yellow and the light slants through at a new angle - it was hauntingly beautiful, and Fall is my favorite season anyway.
I stopped at the little gift shop and bought Kathy some fudge to use when the hassles got too bad to stand ("In case of emergency, break glass and eat chocolate") finally arriving at about 3:30 - it seemed that every inch of freeway in West Virginia was under construction, which slowed me down considerable. I saw that the kennel was empty, so I assumed the farmlady was out walking the dogs. Inspected the basement, which received an "A" - you'll have to refer to my entries from this summer about the cleanout to grok that - and then headed for the back hills where the dogs get walked. Just as I hopped over the gate to the outer pasture, a tornadofull of dogs came bounding toward me, followed by the farmlady, whose intial thought was "who the hqiz is jumping over my gate?". The dogs knew me first, of course, and greeted me enthusiastically. Honey was jumping almost to waist level with excitement...
Kathy fed me some of her Hawai'ian casserole she made with the taro root I had sent her, which was a bonus – it was delicious. She also gave me a jar of strawberry jam, which I foolishly forgot to collect before I drove off. Yarg. We chatted for about an hour, and then her Mom came over – which made further conversation more or less impossible. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I wanted to get down the road toward Richmond so I'd get there at a decent hour tomorrow morning. It was nice to see her again, at any rate. On the quarantined farm.
Found a truck stop at Greenville, got some dinner and – at last – a wireless connection that works – sort of. Got caught up with emails and posting placeholders here, because I wanted a certain someone to be surprised at my presence in Richmond over the weekend. And, as it turned out, she was very surprised - and it didn't look anything like I thought it was going to. But it's all good, especially in the context of the Richmond experience that I came for.
Entered Virginia shortly after leaving the farm, and had to disconnect my radar detector, which is illegal in this state.
Stopped for the night about an hour West of Richmond, and slept until about 4:30. Completed the drive to Richmond, and checked into my hotel at about 6:00. Unpacked, had a lovely shower, went out for a hearty breakfast at the Waffle House, and then came back and took a two-hour nap before heading over to the Wyndham Hotel, where my dear friend Brian Miller of Klemmer and Associates was conducting a three-day Personal Mastery seminar.
It's always intriguing to watch people move their lives forward in these classes. I'll be busy enough until Sunday night that I'll have to report on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday after the seminar is over.
I'm grateful for the good weather, the safety, and the company of good friends.
